The semiconductor industry uses metal-containing interconnects, such as copper (Cu), in electronic devices such as, for example, state of the art microprocessors. The metal-containing interconnects, which may be embedded fine metal lines, form the three dimensional grid upon which millions of transistors at the heart of the microprocessor can communicate and perform complex calculations. In these and other applications, copper or alloys thereof may be chosen over other metals such as, for example, aluminum because copper is a superior electrical conductor, thereby providing higher speed interconnections of greater current carrying capability.
Interconnect pathways within electronic devices are typically prepared by the damascene process, whereby photolithographically patterned and etched trenches and vias in the dielectric insulator are coated with a conformal thin layer of a diffusion barrier material. A diffusion barrier layer is typically used in conjunction with a metal or copper layer to prevent detrimental effects caused by the interaction or diffusion of the metal or copper layer with other portions of the integrated circuit. Exemplary barrier materials include, but are not limited to, titanium, tantalum, tungsten, chromium, molybdenum, zirconium, ruthenium, vanadium, and/or platinum as well as carbides, nitrides, carbonitrides, silicon carbides, silicon nitrides, and silicon carbonitrides of these materials and alloys comprising same. In certain processes, such as when, for example, the interconnect comprises copper, the diffusion barrier layer may be coated with a thin ‘seed’ or ‘strike’ layer of copper, prior to completely filling in the features with pure copper. In still other cases, the seed layer of copper may be replaced by—or used in addition to—an analogous cobalt or similar conducting thin film ‘glue’ layer. Excess copper may then removed by the process of chemical mechanical polishing. Since the smallest features to be filled can be less than 0.2 microns wide and over 1 micron deep, it is preferable that the copper seed layer, copper glue layer and/or the diffusion barrier layers be deposited using metallization techniques that are capable of evenly filling these features, without leaving any voids, which could lead to electrical failures in the finished product.
Numerous methods such as ionized metal plasma (IMP), physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (PACVD), plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), electroplating, and electroless plating have been used to deposit metal-containing layers such as the metallization, diffusion barrier, and/or other layers. Among them, CVD and ALD methods using one or more organometallic precursors may be the most promising methods because these methods provide excellent step coverage for high aspect ratio structures and good via filling characteristics. In a typical CVD process, a vapor of a volatile organometallic precursor containing the desired metal is introduced to a substrate surface whereupon a chemical reaction occurs in which a thin film containing the metal as a compound or as a pure element is deposited on the substrate. Since the metal is typically delivered in a vapor form as a volatile precursor, it can access both vertical and horizontal surfaces to provide an evenly distributed thin film. In a typical ALD process, a volatile organometallic precursor is alternately pulsed into a reactor with a reagent gas such that self-limiting alternating monolayers of precursor/reagent are deposited on the substrate wherein the monolayers react together to form a metal film or a metal-containing film which is subsequently reduced to metal or used as deposited. For example, if a copper organometallic precursor was reacted with a suitable oxidant in an ALD process, the resulting cuprous oxide or cupric oxide monolayer or multilayer could be used for semiconductor applications or reduced to copper metal.
For copper thin films, some of the same precursors suitable for CVD and other depositions may also be suitable as ALD precursors. In certain applications, it may be preferable that the precursor be highly volatile, deposit copper films that are substantially pure (i.e., have a purity of about 95% or about 99% or greater copper), and/or minimize the introduction of potentially contaminating species into the reaction chamber or onto the diffusion barrier or other underlying surfaces. Further, in these applications, it may be preferable that the copper film exhibits good adhesion to the diffusion barrier layer because poor adhesion may lead to, inter alia, delamination of the copper film during chemical mechanical polishing.
Several organometallic precursors have been developed to deposit low electrical resistivity copper films by the aforementioned processes, particularly CVD or ALD processes. Two of often-used families of copper organometallic precursors that have been studied extensively are the Cu(I) and Cu(II) precursors. One commonly used Cu(I) precursor is a precursor having the formula “Cu(I)(hfac)(W)” precursor where “hfac” represents the 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoro-2,4-pentanedionate anion and (W) represents a neutral stabilizing ligand, such as, for example, an olefin, an alkyne, or a trialkylphosphine. One particular example of a Cu(I) precursor having the above formula is 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoro-2,4-pentanedionato-copper (I) trimethylvinylsilane (hereinafter Cu(hfac)(tmvs)), which is sold under the trademark CUPRASELECT™ by Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. of Allentown, Pa., the assignee of the present application. These Cu(I) precursors can deposit films via a disproportionation reaction whereby two molecules of the precursor react on a heated substrate surface to provide copper metal, two molecules of free ligand (W), and the volatile by-product Cu(+2)(hfac)2. Equation (1) provides an example of a disproportionation reaction:2Cu(+1)(hfac)W→Cu+Cu(+2)(hfac)2+2W  (1)
In CVD depositions, the disproportionation reaction illustrated in Equation (1) is typically run at a temperature of around 200° C.; however, other temperatures may be used depending upon the deposition process. As Equation (1) illustrates, the Cu(+2)(hfac)2 constitutes a byproduct from the reaction and may need to be removed from the reaction chamber.
Yet another type of Cu(I) precursor is a precursor having the formula “(Y)Cu(Z)”. In these particular Cu(I) precursors, “Y” is an organic anion and “Z” is a neutral stabilizing ligand, such as, for example, trialkyphosphine. An example of such a precursor is CpCuPEt3, where Cp is cyclopentadienyl and PEt3 is triethylphoshine. Under typical CVD conditions, two of these precursor molecules may react on a wafer surface, whereby the two stabilizing trialkyphosphine Z ligands become disassociated from the copper centers, the two (Y) ligands become coupled together, and the copper (I) centers are reduced to copper metal. The overall reaction is shown below in Equation (2).2(Y)Cu(Z)→2Cu+(Y—Y)+2(Z)  (2)However, in certain instances, this type of chemistry may present problems because the released trialkylphosphine ligands may contaminate the reaction chamber and act as undesired N-type silicon dopants.
As mentioned previously, yet another type of precursor used to deposit copper-containing films is Cu(II) precursors. Unlike the Cu(I) precursors, the Cu(II) precursors require the use of an external reducing agent such as, for example, hydrogen or alcohol to deposit copper films that are largely free of impurities. An example of a typical Cu(II) precursor has the chemical formula Cu(II)(Y)2 wherein (Y) is an organic anion. Examples of this type of precursor include, but are not limited to, Cu(II)bis(β-diketonates), Cu(II) bis(β-diimine), and Cu(II) bis(β-ketoimine) compounds. Equation (3) provides an illustration of a deposition reaction wherein hydrogen is used as the reducing agent.Cu(II)(Y)2+H2→Cu+2YH  (3)The Cu(II) precursors are typically solids and the temperatures required for film deposition are typically above 200° C.
While copper precursors are widely used as interconnects, other metals or alloys are used as thin films in electronic devices. Examples of such metals include silver (Ag), gold (Au), cobalt (Co), ruthenium (Ru), rhodium (Rh), platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), nickel (Ni), osmium (Os), indium (In), and alloys thereof.